The Razor Sharp Rauzer Sicilian

💈 Go against the grain with The Rauzer! 💈

Forget the fluff, shake off that stubble and slash right to the bone with the vicious, violent Rauzer!

Variations of the Sicilian don't get much more cut throat than this barbarous beauty brought to you by FM Amro El Jawich, a three-time Lebanese champion.

Playing The Rauzer:

🪒 Every win will be a close shave;
🪒 Every position will be double-edged;
🪒 Every game will get you buzzed.

But what is this spiky, super-sharp opening?

It arises after the standard: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6. You can also achieve the Rauzer structure after both 2...Nc6 and 2...d6, as the author examines.

However, when 5.d6 is played The Rauzer is on the board and Black shows he or she is bristling with intent.

A cutting-edge opening

Here is an opening that is growing fast in popularity and has been played by some of the world's best players such as Fabiano Caruana and the world champion himself, Magnus Carlsen.

Exciting players like Richard Rapport and the young Russian Daniil Dubov have also adopted it as part of their standard repertoires against 1.e4.

And more recently, the teenage sensation Alireza Firouzja has used it to devastating effect at the King Salman Rapid and Blitz World Championships in Moscow.

Tons of theory shaved-off

FM Jawich has combed through mountains of theory to bring you all the short-cuts in The Rauzer. The variations here are simple so you don't get lost in heavy preparation and risky continuations.

Many of the structures FM Jawich targets are similar to the Najdorf-structures, especially against sidelines.

Play it for shear fun!

But there is no total escape from some complex variations - so do be prepared for games getting hairy.

With this course, you will be ready though to take your seat and let the knives come out.

So, if you want an opening to get under the skin of White, this decision is cut and dry: choose The Rauzer.